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'Brazil needs to get to grips with the energy transition'

Brazil needs to start engaging more closely with energy transition by putting in place long-term policies to make better use of its diverse energy resources, train personnel and develop its own technology in renewables, smart-grids and distributed generation, an energy conference was told.

“Despite the fast growth in wind and solar technologies in recent years, the energy transition will not be fast. It will be a long process that we need to prepare for and it’s not just about changing the energy mix, it goes much deeper than that,” said Edmar Almeida, energy economics researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Speaking at the opening panel of the 'All About Energy 2017' congress in Fortaleza, Almeida said that although Brazil is facing an urgent need to stave off power shortages because of the depleted reservoirs of hydroelectric dams, the new policies need to take into account changes in business models of power distribution companies, the multiple use of water for power, human consumption and agriculture, as well winding down of fossil fuels in transport.

The president of the Brazilian Committee for Climate Change, Suzana Kahn, agreed. “We are not taking into account the disruptive changes the world is facing,” she said.

While wind and solar power technologies are already perfectly placed to contribute to this change, the Brazilian government now needs to think about carbon taxing, electric vehicles and the combination of biomass, biofuels and other technologies in hybrid power sourcing.

“Our development process is too energy intensive, and we need to look to 2050 and start preparing now, thinking about education, science and technology,” she said.

Although Kahn said the Brazilian government is thinking about taxing CO2 emissions no consensus has been reached, while regulators and policy makers are still not thinking about how change the business environment to guarantee the change over.

“The so-called 'prosummers' of distributed generation will cause radical changes in the business models of power distributors,” she said.

Jean-Paul Prates, president of Rio Grande do Norte renewable energy think-tank Cerne, said that the processes need to make sure Brazil takes the steps to consolidate what has been achieved in renewables to move forward.

“I don’t like the word disruptive, but changes are occurring and we have to think about it in several ways,” he said.

"If we didn’t have wind, we would have faced power shortages in the Northeast a long time ago"

Prates pointed out that wind power can have a relevant role in the transition and that the experience in the past decade shows there is no way back.

“Today, wind has regularly supplied more than a third of the power in the Northeast. In other words, if we didn’t have wind power, we would have faced power shortages in the region a long time ago,” he said.

Although he accepts that private investment will be key, Prates still sees a shaping role for government in developing new technologies – and believes that Brazil needs to keep control of its federal power group, Eletrobras, recently put up for privatisation.

“The Eletrobras group has been an important partner in making wind power feasible in Brazil, and in its consolidation, and it should have the same role for solar. If it is sold, its structuring role will be completely changed,” he said.

“We’re talking of a company that controls the greater part of Brazil’s hydroelectric and transmission system. How can the country implement policies that go beyond the power sector, if all this is in the hands of private interest? The process needs a deeper debate and in these troubled times this is not happening.”

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'Brazil needs to get to grips with the energy transition'

Brazil needs to start engaging more closely with energy transition by putting in place long-term policies to make better use of its diverse energy resources, train personnel and develop its own technology in renewables, smart-grids and distributed generation, an energy conference was told.

“Despite the fast growth in wind and solar technologies in recent years, the energy transition will not be fast. It will be a long process that we need to prepare for and it’s not just about changing the energy mix, it goes much deeper than that,” said Edmar Almeida, energy economics researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Speaking at the opening panel of the 'All About Energy 2017' congress in Fortaleza, Almeida said that although Brazil is facing an urgent need to stave off power shortages because of the depleted reservoirs of hydroelectric dams, the new policies need to take into account changes in business models of power distribution companies, the multiple use of water for power, human consumption and agriculture, as well winding down of fossil fuels in transport.

The president of the Brazilian Committee for Climate Change, Suzana Kahn, agreed. “We are not taking into account the disruptive changes the world is facing,” she said.

While wind and solar power technologies are already perfectly placed to contribute to this change, the Brazilian government now needs to think about carbon taxing, electric vehicles and the combination of biomass, biofuels and other technologies in hybrid power sourcing.

“Our development process is too energy intensive, and we need to look to 2050 and start preparing now, thinking about education, science and technology,” she said.

Although Kahn said the Brazilian government is thinking about taxing CO2 emissions no consensus has been reached, while regulators and policy makers are still not thinking about how change the business environment to guarantee the change over.

“The so-called 'prosummers' of distributed generation will cause radical changes in the business models of power distributors,” she said.

Jean-Paul Prates, president of Rio Grande do Norte renewable energy think-tank Cerne, said that the processes need to make sure Brazil takes the steps to consolidate what has been achieved in renewables to move forward.

“I don’t like the word disruptive, but changes are occurring and we have to think about it in several ways,” he said.

"If we didn’t have wind, we would have faced power shortages in the Northeast a long time ago"

Prates pointed out that wind power can have a relevant role in the transition and that the experience in the past decade shows there is no way back.

“Today, wind has regularly supplied more than a third of the power in the Northeast. In other words, if we didn’t have wind power, we would have faced power shortages in the region a long time ago,” he said.

Although he accepts that private investment will be key, Prates still sees a shaping role for government in developing new technologies – and believes that Brazil needs to keep control of its federal power group, Eletrobras, recently put up for privatisation.

“The Eletrobras group has been an important partner in making wind power feasible in Brazil, and in its consolidation, and it should have the same role for solar. If it is sold, its structuring role will be completely changed,” he said.

“We’re talking of a company that controls the greater part of Brazil’s hydroelectric and transmission system. How can the country implement policies that go beyond the power sector, if all this is in the hands of private interest? The process needs a deeper debate and in these troubled times this is not happening.”